Press
NAFCU letter to House of Representatives urging support for H.R. 1408
| Re: Support for the Mortgage Servicing Asset Capital Requirements Act of 2015 (H.R. 1408) |
| Dear Speaker Boehner and Leader Pelosi:On behalf of the National Association of Federal Credit Unions (NAFCU), the only trade association exclusively representing the federal interests of our nation’s federally insured credit unions, I write today to urge your support of the Mortgage Servicing Asset Capital Requirements Act of 2015 (H.R. 1408), as amended, when it comes to the House floor. This bipartisan measure introduced by Representatives Perlmutter and Luetkemeyer would, among other things, ensure that the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) study its second risk-based capital proposal’s impact on credit union mortgage servicing assets.
As you know, NAFCU has concerns about many aspects of the NCUA’s risk-based capital proposal including the portion relative to mortgage servicing assets which has a risk weight of 250 percent. NAFCU believes this is artificially high and a risk weight of 150 percent is more appropriate. This portion of the proposal is indicative of much larger issues with NCUA’s proposal and NAFCU continues to believe it is a solution in search of a problem. In short, this entire proposal should be withdrawn until adequate cost-benefit analysis is done to determine the impact it will have on credit union lending and job creation. While NAFCU does not oppose a risk-based capital regime for credit unions, it must be done properly through statute with ample Congressional input. Not only does NAFCU urge passage of H.R. 1408 to look at the mortgage servicing assets portion of the NCUA’s risk-based capital proposal, but we also encourage the House to support and schedule action on the Risk-Based Capital Study Act of 2015 (H.R. 2769). This bipartisan legislation, introduced by Representatives Fincher, Posey and Denny Heck, would require NCUA to study the full impact of the entire risk-based capital proposal on credit unions and report back to Congress before taking any final action on the proposal. Again, thank you for scheduling the consideration of the Mortgage Servicing Asset Capital Requirements Act (H.R. 1408) on the floor this week. We urge strong support for this legislation and hope the appropriate capital requirements for credit unions continue to be a focus in the House during this Congress. If my staff or I can be of assistance or answer any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact myself or NAFCU’s Director of Legislative Affairs Jillian Pevo at 703-842-2836. Sincerely, Brad Thaler cc: Members of the House of Representatives |